Heart attacks treated through phone

Press, 11 July 1989, Page 6

Heart attacks treated through phone

NZPA-AP St Louis A woman waiting for a heart transplant has become the first person treated through a telephone connection for a heart attack she suffered at home, hospital officials said. It was the first use of a device called the MDphone transtelephonic defibrillator, which was introduced last year at Jewish Hospital and two other medical centres since then. Ada Evans, aged 54,

was one of two patients equipped with the portable electronic cardiac treatment systems in May, said Dr Rodolphe Ruffy of Jewish Hospital. The device fits into a briefcase-sized case and can be plugged into a standard phone jack. On June 25, Mrs Evans began experiencing an extremely rapid heartbeat. Her husband, Roscoe Evans, immediately activated the MDphone, which automatically dialed the hospital’s cardiac

care unit. After he attached two electrode pads to his wife’s chest, hospital personnel activated the defibrillator, which restores the heart’s normal rhythm through electric shock. Dr Ruffy said the device saved her life. “The system worked aboslutely according to expectations,” he said. “The crew and the staff went through extensive training, so we .were certain they were well-pre-pared.” Both the Evanses said

they had been confident the system would work. “With all the training, I knew my husband knew what to do. I had no doubts about it,” Mrs Evans said. Mr Evans, a retired bread salesman, said he did not have time to worry. “Something had to be done and I knew I had to do it, so I wasn’t scared,” he said. “I had confidence in the machine and in the training and in what the doctors and nurses had told us it would do. I

thank God for the machine.” Dr Ruffy said Mrs Evans and other patients waiting for heart transplants were prime candidates for the device because it frees them from lengthy hospital stays. S. Eric Wachtel, the president of Medphone Corp., of Paramus, New Jersey, which developed the machine, said;;his company was negotiating for the use df:??lhe. MDphone with about 25 other medical